Last week we gave some guidelines for discernment. This week we present some more specific guidelines for making a discernment decision.
- The greater the impact on our lives the more we should seek multiple confirmations. At the least there should be deep confidence or a big undeniable confirmation.
- Impressions from God are generally “gentle, light, and sweet, as a drop of water entering a sponge.”
- Impressions from evil spirits are “sharp, noisy and disturbing, like a drop of water falling upon a rock.”
- However, an impression from God can make us anxious, hurt, sad or afraid because of the content of the impression and our normal reaction to it. Thus, it may not bring peace at first and it may take us a while to surrender and accept the message.
- We should reflect on where the impression would eventually lead us. Is it a good end? Does it please God in your life? “The fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true” (Eph. 5:9, ESV).
- When an impression tends towards grandiosity or self-exaltation, we should lean towards thinking it is not from God. Many, many people have received prophecies about unusually large ministries they will lead or responsibilities they will have, but they are never realized.
- Our own inner voice is very capable of speaking many things to us! Many confuse their own voice with the voice of God. Our voice can sound like another person talking. It can say what we want to hear or what someone else wants to hear. It can answer our questions, give direction, give long prophecies, and teach us ideas – but none of it is from God.
- Sometimes an impression is so clear and strong that it immediately produces complete confidence that it is from God. No confirmation is needed before acting on it unless it is a high impact impression and you have time to evaluate it.
- We should hold on to words from God lightly until it is clear that they are from God. If the impression is prediction of a future event we should be cautious about making substantial changes in our lives based on the prediction.
- We must be willing to reject the impression if it doesn’t pass the discernment process, even though it would be painful to do so.
- One of the most difficult lessons in supernatural ministry is that sometimes impressions that are supernaturally confirmed don’t end up working out or coming true. This is just a mystery that cannot be reliably solved. Don’t try to resolve it by twisting the truth and adding conditions for fulfillment that weren’t part of the original impression, such as “we didn’t pray enough”. Just remember that you are a student and maybe someday you will understand.
